The German champion Maria Riesch wins the downhill on the Olimpia delle Tofane course - On the podium also Tina Weirather and by surprise Nicole Schmidhofer

CORTINA D’AMPEZZO, 24th OF JANUARY 2014 – Today’s ladies’ World Cup downhill was delayed of half an hour to complete the work on the course after last night’s snowfall. The start was lowered to the entrance of the Schuss. The best out of the spectacular hill was done by the impressive Maria Riesch, winning the 6th downhill of the season with a 0.31 seconds advantage over Tina Weirather. For Maria today’s win is the 80th World Cup podium in her skiing career.

Tina Weirather, born in 1989 in Vaduz in Liechtenstein, after her fourth placing in yesterday’s superG of Cortina, put 0.44 seconds between her and her closest adversary, Nicole Schmidhofer, on third place. She is in a very good shape and demonstrated to be comfortable on the Olimpia delle Tofane. After having missed the last Winter Olympic Games of Vancouver 2010 due to an injury suffered on today’s slope, she staged her comeback here.

The 25 years old Austrian racer, on rank three, started with the bib number 39, and claimed an excellent result. So did she also one year ago, in Cortina as well, when she gained the second step of the podium in super-G.

Statements of the today’s downhill winners

Maria Riesch: “Today’s race wasn’t easy for me because of the shorter course, so I had to push to the limit, and so did I. But no one is unbeatable, even if I’m strong on this course mistakes always happen. Anyway, it’s a big day and I’m very happy because I’ve been training hard with the new coach and now I’m in great shape, ready for the Olympics”

Tina Weirather: “Especially in Cortina, I’ve always felt the pressure and have been more nervous than anywhere else. Today I was able to stay in the comfort zone but very close to the limit, that is exact what I’m looking for. When I was 16 years old I went to Torino 2006 Olympics and learned a lot there, so this time I’m very looking forward to participate with more experience.”

Nicole Schmidhofer: “In the last period I had the feeling to be improving. This morning, at the start, I just hoped to have tailwind and also when I was approaching the last jump, I hoped for that little help. That’s the second World Cup podium in Cortina in my skiing career, and there are two races still to do. I’ll do my best on Sunday because I really hope to be able to go to the Olympics.”